top of page
Search

Malcolm in the Middle: Life's Still Unfair Series Recap & Review - Episode 3

"You want to know the best part about childhood? At some point, it stops." - Malcolm


There are certain shows and movies that define who we are as people. The first movie I ever saw in a theater was Jurassic Park in 1993. I believed dinosaurs were alive. It was magic. At home I was nurturing what would become my love for horror movies with Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark? I was in love with Batman: The Animated Series. Rugrats was one of my favorite cartoons of all-time. Looney Tunes, Catdog, Kablam!, Home Improvement, That 70's Show and so many others. But one stood out above the rest. My favorites were Rugrats, Batman, The Simpsons, and The X-Files. Among them was a true testament to comedy, family, individualism, chaos, and energetic television -- Malcolm in the Middle.


It is heightened reality, impossible surrealism, and theatrical absurdism. But all of the impossibilities aside, at the heart of it, what made it stand the test of time, was a story of an unassuming, albeit chaotic, family. With an anxiety-ridden, paranoid father named Hal, a maniacal, tyrannical mother named Lois, the oldest and most chaotic brother names Francis, an older brother with psychopathic and sociopathic tendencies named Reese, and the quiet and perhaps most conniving of them all, the little brother named Dewey. And the titular middle child himself -- the anxiety-ridden, paranoid, pain-strickenly intelligent, egotistical genius child named Malcolm. Aaand Jamie of course. But he came later.



By that description alone you might think this is a drama about a family stuck in a vicious cycle of systemic poverty and psychological warfare. But you'd be forgetting that this show is hilarious. It's zany and off-the-wall. It's a series that acknowledges the differences of those closest to us while celebrating the individual achievements of each character and that despite immense differences, family is what counts at the end of the day. And it does all of this in the most kooky, energetic, and hilarious manner possible.


Well now here we are, 20 years later, returning to the home of The Wilkersons, where the boys are grown and the parents are still not empty nesters.


Let's see why Life's Still Unfair...


Episode 3:


Episode details are discussed in the following recap & review. Proceed with Caution!


"The man who says his wife can't take a joke forgets that she took him." - Oscar Wilde


Malcolm can’t seem to understand boundaries. He expects everyone to respect his but when it comes to his daughter or his girlfriend, he seems to forget all decorum. He is so hellbent on distancing himself from his siblings and parents while holding on entirely too tight to his daughter and girlfriend. It’s gotten to the point, especially with recent events, that he has become aggressively desperate. He’s so willing to “fix” things that he doesn’t allow for things to actually workout that way. He snuffs the life out of rationale that it becomes borderline impossible to talk to him. 


Sending his daughter to smooth things over with his girlfriend isn’t the way to go and he can’t understand why. The truth is he has some serious mental health problems that have gone undiagnosed. And considering what he’s been through and done when he was younger with the devils on his shoulders, also known as his family, he might have PTSD. He’s also his harshest critic which combined with what I can only guess is some form of bipolar disorder creates a whirlwind of manic, dissociative behavior that is latching on to the very things he cares about most, like his daughter, Leah. 



Last we saw of Hal, he had taken what looked to be about a year’s worth of microdoses in one giant gulp. The credits ran as he became a ticking time bomb of psychosis. As he sits in the mostly empty room waiting for something to kick off, he feels nothing. “A sham!” he thinks. That’s of course when the water in his cup literally becomes sentient. Here. We. Go.


Kelly intends on enjoying her parents' wrath against Reese for what he did to Hal. What she doesn’t understand are the lengths in which Reese is willing to go to get even. She has no concept of the depths he will sink to. But she’s about to get a taste of his insanity. 


Back with Hal in his trip to another dimension, it has taken its natural course that resulted in a nude Hal writhing on the floor screaming nonsense. Pay no attention to the naked, sweating man on the floor. He’s just being reborn. This leads to the final boss of Hal’s internal turmoil – himself. But the more self-aware version. 


Francis is trying to convince both Piama as well as himself that Lois’s list doesn’t bother him. If history has taught us anything it’s that Francis is full of shit. He attempts to pivot from his usual “induce chaos” for attention to a more unexpected approach of doing something kind for his mother. She’ll never see it coming! 


Meanwhile, Leah is trying to find some normalcy in the midst of her father and his extended nut farm of a family by getting to know a boy at school. They seem to share a similar kind of anxiousness. Admittedly, it’s pretty sweet. 


The battle between Reese and Kelly rages on. They will take this to the breaking point if left to their own devices. 


Hal’s psychotic break continues. As funny as this show is and his insane behavior is entertaining, Hal has some genuine traumas he is now facing in the eye of this mental storm. He has realized that fear has determined his life’s path in just about every conceivable way. Trent Reznor-Hal agrees. Hal needs to be needed. When his boys grew up, he felt more and more without purpose. His other version makes him realize to help others, he must help himself first. As he puts it, “Your inner resources are depleted because you’ve never nourished them.” 


Francis wants to move up on Lois’s list. She claims it doesn’t work like that and with the party coming up she simply doesn’t have the time to concern herself with Francis and Piama’s big news. Again, this family is full of it. 


Under the guise of getting dinner like the old days, Leah gets Malcolm in the car with ulterior motives. Oh yeah, and Tristan is back and she’s in the driver’s seat. Let’s just say they’re done letting Malcolm call the shots. 



What Hal begins to realize about this “better Hal” he’s been talking to is a version of himself that should have remained dormant. He has valid points about Hal no longer disregarding his own feelings and desires but moves past that to an idea that is unthinkable for Hal. As crazy as his family makes him, he loves them. Unequivocally.  And thus, a breakthrough!


If this party doesn’t happen soon, Lois is going to snap.


Tristan and Leah are going to the anniversary party. And they’re dragging Malcolm along whether he wants to or not. And this ride to Malcolm’s reluctant redemption will be a journey of disclosure for everyone in the vehicle. And boy do they have some secrets to tell. 


And finally, for better or worse, Lois finds Hal. His drug journey has finished although there may be some residual effects. Time will tell. Next up, the anniversa… oh make that the hospital first. Theeennn the anniversary party. 


Out of 10

Story: 9/ Acting: 9/ Directing: 8/ Visuals: 10

OVERALL: 9/10


Overall thoughts on Episode 3: 

It’s a running joke that Lois wanted to plan just one anniversary how she wanted in hopes of keeping Hal from going overboard. Instead, he goes on a drug fueled journey, she discovers a hidden granddaughter her estranged son kept from them, another son that is obsessed with pretending he isn’t obsessed by what she thinks, another son who has been exploiting his own father for financial gain and celebrity status, and of course the sudden car accident she just got in. For all the effort of trying to make a party by her own design it’s going exactly as you might expect with this family.


Leah, and I think maybe moreso, Tristan, realize they’re stuck with Malcolm and he isn’t capable of getting out of his own way. So they’ll help, force him, to get there. By kidnapping him. Like a family does. Well, their family anyway. It’s great to see Reese flexing his prank muscles again. I think maybe they might be a bit atrophied. But worry not, he will not lose this game of chicken with Kelly. Although Kelly is his sibling. That means they’re related. So the crazy gene running through Reese is likely swimming around in her psyche too. This might end badly. Funny, but badly. 


And I think one of the true strengths that has given this show a lasting impact is the adherence to sincerity. It can be funny but it has no problem exploring these characters and their mental health. It makes them more relatable to see their cracks and imperfections. It makes them funnier but also more genuine. One more episode to go…


Check out the trailer below:


Comments

bottom of page